Belfast terminal to close but Grand Central won’t be ready to replace it

A series of ongoing planned closures have begun to alter infrastructure ahead of new station’s opening.

GREAT Victoria Street (GVS) in Belfast is planned to close in mid-May, however Translink has confirmed that trains will not be using its replacement, the new £200 million Belfast Grand Central, until the autumn.

Construction and fitting out of the new station is progressing well with preparatory work in connection with the installation of further track and associated signalling continuing.

Great Victoria Street’s closure is required so that its approach from Westlink Junction, platforms and associated infrastructure can be removed as that part of the area is required for the bus infrastructure for the new station.

A prelude to the numerous possessions and bustitutions that are planned during the commissioning period over the summer months for the new station, as well as track alterations and signalling renewals on the Belfast-Lisburn corridor, occurred during the weekend of March 2/3.

There was a total possession to facilitate signalling and ballasting work in the Westlink Junction/Central Junction to Lanyon Place area, which saw Lanyon Place station handle Bangor, Larne and Londonderry/ Portrush services, while Great

Victoria Street was used for Lisburn/ Portadown/Newry trains and the Cross Border ‘Enterprise’ service.

Preparations for the use of GVS by the locomotive-hauled ‘Enterprise’ trains included a gauging test run to platform 2 from Lanyon Place on February 18. This was worked by GM No. 206 and Mk.3/De Dietrich set with Driving Brake First Open (DBFO)

No. 9001, during the layover period after forming the 12.00 Dublin Connolly-Lanyon Place and 16.05 return. The test was successful and in order to retain the locomotive at the Belfast end of the set, the test train ran to and from GVS via Central Junction. On March 1, GM No. 231 ran light from York Road to Adelaide Traincare Depot to act as standby locomotive during the weekend.

The normal ‘Enterprise’ service pattern on weekdays of eight trains in each direction, with five on Sundays, was operated with slightly later departures of one or two minutes from GVS as the distance between it and Connolly is one-mile shorter than Lanyon Place. Refuelling was carried out at Connolly. Two sets were each positioned at GVS platforms 2 and 3 late on March 1, for the early morning departures the next day with the following noted in use during the weekend: No. 206 with set No.9002, No. 227 with set No. 9003 and No. 8208 with set No. 9001.

The 19.00 ex-Connolly on March 3, hauled by No. 227, brought the diversionary service to a close and this was planned to be the last time GVS will host an ‘Enterprise’ train. No. 231 returned light to York Road from Adelaide Traincare depot on March 4.